TEHRAN -- The third meeting of energy and oil ministers of the Economic Cooperation Organization opened in Tehran on Monday.

The facilitation of trade and financial transactions in the field of energy among the ten ECO member states and the proposal to establish a free trade zone are some of the issues that will be discussed at the three-day gathering, the Mehr News Agency reported.

The first and second meetings of ECO energy and oil ministers were held in Pakistan in the year 2000 and Tajikistan in 2010.

ECO is an intergovernmental regional organization established in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey that provides a platform to promote economic, technical, and cultural cooperation among member states.

The organization was expanded in 1992, with seven new members -- Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan -– joining ECO.

In September 2011, ECO Secretary General Muhammad Yahya Maroofi said that the organization’s member states were planning to set up a common market.

Maroofi noted that in 2011, the 10-member organization’s share in global trade was around $684 billion annually.

“Under the agreement reached by ECO members, the common market should be established by 2015,” he said.

MG/HG

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